I have been playing for almost three years, just coming on one year with an actual piano, although I have not had much of a routine until recently. I am a science student with an intense courseload (physics for science majors, calculus III, organic chemistry, and an honors class on Dante), so having a teacher really won't be feasible until possibly next summer (maybe in the spring, depending on what classes are available). A teacher is something I'd really like, however, because I've had something of a technical breakthrough as of late.
Are you happy with your progress?
Yes and no. My lack of a routine (I've often just improvised rather than learning new repertoire or practicing) has limited my progress. This summer I've worked on my technique a lot, however, and I am starting to feel a fluency, although I have room to improve in every facet of playing.
What do you find most difficult to understand?
Probably the mechanics of playing. How to hold my hands, how to press down a key (I tend to "caress" the keys with a pulling motion). Rhythm is probably my weakest ability, since I dislike counting (except, oddly, for a Sorabji Etude I studied last year with a 3 against 5 polyrhythm) and metronomes. I want precision in my playing, but that is probably the one thing I put off the most. I also do some eccentric fingering, tending towards the thumb over technique or otherwise sometimes contorting to avoid hand motion(for Invention number four I finger the first measure 12345415 etc., which is more comfortable to me and capable of higher velocity than changing hand position).
How are you going about teaching yourself? method book? youtube?
This summer I've really simplified the material I've worked on, because I basically started out playing intermediate material (the first pieces that I ever learned were Chopin Op. 63 nos 2 and 3, and Bach's C minor prelude from the WTC book 1). This overreaching of repertoire caused a lot of stress and a lot of pieces not being finished due to technical inability and frustration. So I've focused on working on easy stuff, with the extra benefit that I'm starting to be able to sight read. Bach Little Preludes and Inventions, Mozart, Chopin Mazurkas, Waltzes, and selected preludes, some of the easier Scriabin, plus more modern and contemporary repertoire. I feel that having such a diverse repertoire serves me more than the typical method book (my partner went to university for piano performance and still has childhood Suzuki books)--I feel like I'm learning a broader range of things than I would be by playing Kuhlau and Clementi with my Bach and Mozart. Since my end goal is to play 20th/21st century stuff, predominantly (although with a capability of playing more traditional stuff, to not completely drive my partner and neighbors mad), learning to sight read music utilizing more accidentals with more diverse spelling is useful to me.
Do you adhere to a certain routine?
This summer I've created a technical routine for myself. With the coming semester, I'll likely have to only do that particular routine on weekends and reserve weekdays for sightreading, however. My routine this summer has been pretty intense by my standards. Daily I:
Play every scale including the chromatic, hands separate and hands together, 4 octaves, legato and staccato.
Play every basic arpeggio in every key, 4 octaves, hands together, usually staccato. The scales and arpeggios are becoming second nature to me, so I'll soon move into contrary motion, inversions, seventh chords, augmented arpeggios, etc.
Do five finger patterns up and down every key staccato (like CDEFG, DEFGA, going to the next octave and back down).
I also practice repeated notes with various fingerings, and trills (with different finger positions, with one finger on an adjacent black key, one finger on a black key a whole tone away, both on white keys, etc. with every two finger combination...I'm working on being able to do four finger trills).
A few days a week I work on independence exercises from Liszt's Technical Studies.
A few days a week I also work on polyphonic scales in various keys (playing two scales, with different note values, with a single hand, usually by subdividing the hand into units like 1 and 2 with one voice and 345 with another or 123 with one and 45 with another).
A couple days a week I practice motifs from Etudes by Chopin, Liszt, and Blanchet, to work on particular problems. A couple days a week I also work on cadences and chord inversions from the Liszt exercises, and I also try my hands at thumb over technique scales in various keys.
Sometimes I play three finger scales with my left hand to improve the fluidity of my 123 fingers, and sometimes I play chromatic scales with 2,3,4 and 3,4,5 (or three note patterns ascending and descending).
Then in the evening I play actual music. This is not a routine that I'm going to continue forever--I'm just working hard on improving my technique at this point, because I will only have limited time in the coming months to do so, so while the majority of my playing is drill-work right now, the majority in a few weeks time is likely going to be sight-reading.
What would you ask a teacher to help you with if you had one?
The mechanics of playing. Fingering suggestions. Little tips on how to get better, or on what to place more of my focus. A lot of what I want from a teacher is the little things, the details I may miss or of which I may not be aware. There's enough information out there that I can get the broader picture, but much of what I want to know can only come from someone with experience and first-hand knowledge.